a celebrated sophist, was a native of Julis in the island of Ceos, and flourished about B.C. 432. He was the contemporary of Democritus of Abdera, and Gorgias of Leontium, and he was the disciple of Protagoras, whom he rivalled in eloquence. His talents were so highly appreciated by his fellow-citizens, that he was employed on various embassies, and on his arrival at Athens, he opened a school where he was attended by the most distinguished men of the age. Euripides, Socrates, Thrasymenes, and Isocrates. Xenophon has preserved an apologue of Prodicus, which is considered as one of the most precious fragments of antiquity: it is Hercules between virtue and vice. In the Axiom of Plato there is also the analysis of a harangue which Prodicus composed to dissipate all fears of death. He was at last accused of being a corrupter of youth, and condemned to drink the fatal bowl of hemlock.